Converting to Small-Form-Factor

[richieuk]

Hi guys, you may remember me from many months ago when you all helped me design and build my fabulous rig

Well, its great still, but I'm thinking of after Christmas converting to Small form Factor.

I'd switch out my Mobo, Case and HSF to a secondary rig, but I'd keep the rest and slot it into a lil portable box, like...


I was wondering, on the lowest budget possible without losing the ability to OC a little and still having a PCI-E 2.0 slot, how much would a conversion cost me? Also, would my 4850 still fit? I was hoping to possibly fit a TV tuner card in aswell but not sure if it could.

Any advice?

[staffsMike]

I've thought about this a couple of times. First question you need to ask yourself is.. why?

With a Q6600 you have to consider the cooling, the sort of HSF's that fit in these cases aren't really very good, or the case that does fit them is really expesnsive.

So I'd be looking at ruling out any major overclocking, probably minor overclocking too, unless..

You go for a uATX tower such as the Antec NSK3480 or Silverstone TJ08 which are perfect for SFF gaming rigs, quiet and run very cool with any HSF you like.. such as a scythe ninja

[Maccer101]

Yes, why is the first question.

Antec NSK3480 for a small case is nice for cooling options (rear 120mm and optional 2x92mm front), but only really room for one HDD and no card reader unless you convert a 5.25" bay, reason being it has 1 3.5" bay at the front and a second on the bottom of the case which would probably be fouled by the GPU and/or TV tuner.

Those little cubes like in your picture can cost a fair bit if you want to do it nicely.

If you want something portable why not get a second hand laptop for £100-150? put Linux on it and it'll run very nicely, no gaming though.

[Webby]

I'm with Mike on this, TJ08 (absolutely fantastic case if I could have found a way to internally water cool it I would still be using it).



GPU is a 3870, CPU cooler a Thermalright Ultima 90, Northbridge Cooler Thermalright HR-05 IFX, 2 hard drives in the 3.5" bays and a DVD and Fan controller in the 5.25" bays (hence all the cables )

Motherboard wise DFI Lanparty JR £103 best Intel based µATX board money can buy http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/DFI-J...SATA-RAID-uATX If you dont want to spend that then this Asus G45 http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Asus-...-Micro-ATX-VGA for £86 would probably do a reasonably job. Only other cheaper alternatives are G33, G35 and Q35 but they all lack PCIe2.

[richieuk]

Why? So I can easily take to friends and the girlfriends with me Literally something I can pick-up and go with.

I have a laptop for portable surfing, I'm looking for a portable gaming rig ideally for about £100 in cost. This is my first choice, other than that I'll be looking at around a £100 upgrade to my girlfriends PC . It needs new mobo, memory and GFX card to play stuff like COD5 etc... It has a 3Ghz P4 Chip, 160HD Sata HD, IDE DVD-RW, a gold 400w PSU (cant remember the make), an old case and a 19" LCD already there.

[Webby]

£100 is not going to get you a SFF case, motherboard and new heatsink. Unless you are prepared to compromise seriously on every component. With the TJ08 £53 on today only (then you won't need a new heatsink) and a G31/33/43 board you may just scrape in for £100 but more likely £115.

For you GF's PC same applies really MB will be £40+, Memory 2GB £20, that leaves £40 for a graphics card I guess the 4650 (~£45) would be the best bet.